Hauntings and Nightmares
by BettyHT
Summary: A prequel in which Adam returns from college, and Little Joe has bad dreams and bad friends which turn out to be a terrible combination. Trouble on the Ponderosa combines with that to cause a combustible situation and Little Joe is the key to resolving the complex web as he learns some important lessons.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Grabbing Little Joe's left arm, Adam stopped the hatchet from descending and possibly inflicting severe damage to his little brother's right hand. He had returned from college only a six weeks earlier and frequently found himself supervising his youngest brother. He didn't know if it was by design or coincidence, but he did find it unusual especially as Little Joe was mostly unappreciative of the situation.

"You need to hold that wood with another piece of wood or something else when it gets that small. I know you're left-handed but I don't want to see you lose any part of your right hand."

"Listen, I've been chopping kindling for Hop Sing for years and never had a problem."

"Oh, 'for years' have you. Well then, I guess you're very lucky to have all your fingers still."

"You don't always have to tell me what to do and say what I'm doing is wrong. You could just smile and say something nice once in a while and try to have some fun. I don't remember you that well from before but what I do remember is that you were a lot more fun."

"I guess there's a big difference between being seventeen and being twenty-two."

"I guess there's a big difference between being six and being eleven, but I still like to have fun."

"But you're only ten."

"You see, that's what I mean. You're always correcting me. I'll be eleven in a month. I'm a lot closer to eleven than I am to ten. You're so good at math. Don't you round off something that's ten and eleven-twelfths to the next higher number, huh?"

Raising his hands in surrender, Adam said nothing letting Little Joe win that one by default. It wasn't worth the trouble to talk about milestones and rites of passage. He didn't know why they seemed to be at odds. He couldn't point to anything that had happened, but it seemed that Little Joe found fault with just about everything that happened. All he could think to do at this point was to avoid any confrontation to see if that would help. It seemed to work at that moment. Adam continued to chop wood, and slowly with some cautious looks from Little Joe to see if he would say anything more, his younger brother once again began chopping kindling and filling that box but at least did it without putting his right hand in jeopardy.

Nearby, Hoss had heard the whole exchange. He was as confused by the whole situation as Adam was. When Adam carried the wood into the house and didn't return, Hoss approached Little Joe. "Why did you get so mad at Adam for saying what me and Pa been telling you for a long time about how you chop kindling. Pa always makes you do it different than you want to do it cause he tells you how you do it ain't safe. I've done told you the same thing, I swear, every time I have to chop wood with you. That's all Adam said and you got all mad. Why is that?"

"Cause he ain't got no right to tell me what to do. He ain't my pa."

"Well, I ain't your pa neither, and like I said, I done told you the same thing."

"It's different when you tell me."

Scratching his head, Hoss had no idea how that could be, and Little Joe couldn't explain it so he did what he did best in those situations. He changed the subject. "Hey, you want to go fishing tomorrow?"

"I'd like to, but roundup starts next week so I gotta go ride and do herd counts with Adam. It's probably gonna take us a full two weeks this year cause we missed doing a lot of that last spring with everything that was happening. Now Adam is home and we can take on a bit more."

"Maybe I should get out of school so I could help."

"You know Pa would never let you do that."

"Yeah, and I suppose Adam wouldn't think I could do it either."

"Why would you say that?"

"He always is telling me how to do things like I don't know how to do things."

"Well there's a lot of things you don't know how to do. He tells me some things too."

"But some things he asks you too. He never asks me nothing."

"That's cause you're ten and you don't know a lot that he don't know. You musta forgot that he was working this ranch when he was your age. He knows an awful lot about working with horses and cattle."

"I'm almost eleven and there is a lot I know about things that happened while he was gone. He could ask me about some of that."

"He could, and maybe he would ifn you didn't get so mad at him over every little thing. He's probably afraid to even ask you a question seeing as how you come out like a rattler got its tail stepped on every time he's near ya."

"Well, I got my reasons."

Pulling a large chunk of wood into a comfortable sitting position, Hoss sat down on it, crossed his legs, and looked expectantly at Little Joe. "Well?"

"Well, maybe I ain't ready to say yet."

"Listen, Little Joe, I know for a fact that Pa is getting mighty riled at you for the way you been acting. Now you can tell me and maybe I can sorta smooth the way for ya, or you can just keep on doing what you're doing and end up in a serious conversation with Pa, and you know what that means." Pausing to catch his breath after his speech, Hoss nodded to emphasize that he had meant everything that he said. "When Adam first come back from college, you was real friendly with him, and we was all getting on fine. You and me and him was talking of doing all these fun things as soon as we had the time. Then all of a sudden, things went bad. Why?"

Reluctant to tell but knowing he needed an ally at home, Little Joe finally had to confide in Hoss. "He gives me bad dreams."

"He what?"

"He gives me bad dreams. Ever since he came home, I've been having bad dreams. Lots of nights I wake up scared and can't sleep. That's why I'm sleeping so late in the morning and Pa gets upset with me. I can't sleep when it's so dark cause I get those bad dreams that wake me up. Adam is always in those bad dreams. There's screaming and blood and awful stuff and storms and stuff and there's Adam."

"Now that don't mean Adam is giving you those bad dreams."

"Well, they started when he came back. I wasn't having them before."

"But Adam is a good man. Anybody can see that."

"But don't you remember what the preacher said in church not too long ago. He said the devil can disguise himself as an 'angel of light'. He said inside though he was the 'dark one'. Now who around here is darker than anyone else you know?"

"Aw, c'mon now, Little Joe, Adam ain't the devil."

"Yeah, but remember that night we was listening to Pa talk to Adam about him coming in late from town, and we thought he was gonna get a tanning, but all Pa said was that he wasn't to let us know the kinds of things he did cause he didn't want him leading us in that direction. See, Pa knows. All he said was that he wanted Adam to get home earlier so we wouldn't know what he was up to in town. He told him to be careful."

"Little Joe, Adam was just doing some drinking and gambling and such."

"Yeah, and Pa wanted him to deceive us about that. You remember what the minister called Satan. He called him the great deceiver. Said he could do it better than anyone else."

"Little Joe, that's just crazy talk."

"No, it ain't. Not when I get these bad dreams all the time. I talked to Arty and Chester and they agreed with me that its Adam's fault."

"Aw, Arty and Chester ain't got but one chicken sized brain between 'em. Their Pa ain't much better sometimes. Pa gave him a good job here and he's close to ruining it."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Maybe it won't be so bad. Now don't you worry none, and don't go on thinking on Adam being the devil. You talk to Pa about them bad dreams cause I know he could help you."

"Sure, Hoss, sure." Except as Hoss walked away, Little Joe was certain he wouldn't tell their Pa about those bad dreams. A young man of eleven did not go running to his father for help. No, somehow, Little Joe was determined to figure out a solution to this on his own.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Little Joe was trapped in the corral with no way out. Horses were milling around and all he could do was to run with them. If he tried to cross their path to the corral fence he would be trampled under their hooves. His only chance was to run with them and hope that they would run enough to burn off enough of their fear to calm down and slow down before he was exhausted or before he tripped and fell. If he did, he knew he would die. Then he heard the voice. He heard Adam's voice calling to him. He willed Adam not to do anything but the voice kept getting closer and closer. He knew it was going to be bad. Anything more and these horses were going to do something awful just when he was hoping that they were going to start calming down. And then it happened. They reared up and kicked their feet and screamed those horrible screams. The next vision was one that made him scream too. There was Adam with his head bent at a horrible angle with blood spurting from his mouth and blood seeming to be everywhere. He heard his father's voice calling to him and felt his father's arms pulling at him, but he couldn't stop screaming. Then he felt the slap across his face. Stunned he shook himself, opened his eyes, and looked into those dark worried eyes of his father. Hoss stood right behind him and then there was Adam behind him. As soon as he saw Adam, he began to scream again shocking his oldest brother as well as his father. Hoss was surprised but had some idea why it had happened. He couldn't break his brother's confidence so instead did the only thing he knew might help.

"C'mon, Adam, let's get out of here. It looks like we're just making it worse." Hoss pushed Adam out into the hallway and pulled the door closed behind him. Adam took a deep breath before turning slightly toward Hoss. It was quiet in Little Joe's room as soon as they left. The two brothers moved slowly down the hallway and each stood in their open bedroom doorways reluctant to go to bed until they knew that Little Joe was all right.

"It wasn't the two of us who made it worse. It was me. He screamed when he saw me. You noticed it too. That's why you wanted me out of there. Hoss, why does he hate me so? What have I done?"

"Aw, Adam, you ain't done nothing. He just had a bad dream is all. Pa knows now and he can deal with it."

"Yeah, now he knows that Little Joe is terrified of me. It'll be one more thing he'll want me to explain, and I won't be able to give him a reason just like everything else."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, he's been getting after me about some things. He wants to know why the men won't follow my orders without going to him first. I told him it's because he lets them do that. If he told them that they should follow my orders, they would. Instead, he asks them what my orders are, and then he makes a few adjustments and they do what he says. Then he wonders why they won't take their orders from me without running to him all the time."

"I didn't know he was doing that."

"Yes, and when I challenged it as part of the problem, he said he didn't like my tone, and that he had a right to do it on 'his ranch' so I suppose there's no solution there."

"What other problems you been having?"

"You must know that Mac Davis is drinking on the job." Hoss' aw shucks shrug and downward shift of his eyes said that he did. "I haven't caught him at it, but when I do, he's going to be fired. I've warned him."

"What'd he say to that?"

"Either he says he's not drinking or he says I don't have the right to fire him."

"Well, of course you do. Pa put you in charge of the men."

"But with the way that's been working out, I can see why he thinks I can't. If you knew he was drinking, why didn't you tell me?"

"Just like you, I've never caught him at it. I don't know where he stashes the stuff. Far as I can tell, it's gotta be stuff he brews himself. He ain't got enough money to afford to be drinking saloon bought stuff every day. It wasn't a problem until his wife died. He went to pieces when that happened. Then he said he had pulled it all together, but what I think really happened is he started drinking instead. Pa tried to help him by hiring him on here. He warned him that drinking wasn't allowed, and Mac promised he'd stay sober on the job."

"He's going to get hurt and probably going to get someone else hurt. So far the things he's done wrong have been minor, but it's only a matter of time before he does something very dangerous."

"He's got them two boys to take care of too. He hardly pays any attention to 'em. Those two been running wild since before his wife died. She was sick a long time, and no one paid much attention to what them boys was doing."

"They're liable to get in serious trouble too then. I hope Joe steers clear of them." Adam saw the look Hoss had then and read it correctly. "I'm guessing that as usual, our little brother has gravitated toward trouble. He's friends with them?" Hoss nodded and all Adam could do was sigh. They were quiet for a time then. "Hoss, he used to come to me when he had bad dreams or call for me to come to him. I think he's been having a lot of bad dreams lately, but he never asks for anyone especially me. I hear noises in there at night that make me think he has bad dreams fairly often."

"He does. He wants to be all grown up about it and handle it himself. I told him to go to Pa. Now Pa is with him so hopefully he'll get it all straightened around."

"I hope so. It doesn't look like Pa is coming out of there anytime soon. I guess we ought to try to get some sleep. We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow."

In Little Joe's room, Ben wasn't hearing the theory that his youngest son had about the dreams. Little Joe wasn't ready to share that partially conceived thought with his father yet. Like many a boy who thought he was nearly a man, Little Joe thought he needed to work through things on his own. He wanted to do that more before he told anyone other than Hoss who wouldn't question him much about it. What he did tell his father had Ben deeply concerned about the relationship between his oldest and youngest sons.

"Pa, Adam is in my bad dreams."

"Why is Adam in your bad dreams?"

"He scares me, Pa. I'm afraid of him and what he could do to me."

"Adam won't do anything to you. He's your brother. He loves you."

"Could you just keep him away from me, Pa?"

"I'll talk to him. Now, do you think you can get back to sleep?"

"Maybe if you could sit here and talk with me for a while then I could."

So Ben sat and talked quietly with his youngest for a half hour about mundane things taking Little Joe's mind away from his bad dream until his eyes began drooping. Ben talked softer and softer until Little Joe drifted away into sleep. Ben pulled the covers up to his youngest son's chin, turned down the lamp, and slowly backed from the room careful not to make any noise. In the hall, he checked and found that his other two sons had gone back to bed. He had hoped to tell Adam what Little Joe had said but instead would have to wait until morning to discuss the disturbing news. When he did broach the subject with Adam, he had not had enough sleep and was too brusque with it saying it in what was probably an accusatory tone.

"I haven't done anything to him. I have no idea why he's afraid of me."

"You must have done something. I saw how scared he was of you last night when you came into his bedroom. He was terrified."

"Pa, he had a bad dream and said I was in it. He's a kid so that is reason enough to be afraid. It doesn't have to be anything more than that."

"There must be a reason that he has bad dreams about you. I guess I've been having him work with you too much. That stops today. He'll go back to working with Hoss or being with me."

"You're making it look like I did something wrong. Of course that's nothing new."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?"

"You do that with the hands. You examine every order I give and make adjustments as if I can't issue a work order and do it right."

"This is still my ranch. I'll do as I see fit, and when my sons speak to me, I expect a respectful tone."

"But I'm not allowed to ask the same?"

"Respect is earned."

Adam wanted to retort that it was impossible to earn respect when you were constantly being overruled and blindsided but knew it would only fuel more of an argument that he had no hope of winning. He stood instead to get started on the day's work. His father told him to have breakfast, but he declined saying he wasn't hungry before leaving without another word. Both men were angry from the confrontation that had settled nothing. Up on the landing, Little Joe and Hoss had been listening unwilling to interrupt. Hoss was worried about both, but Little Joe was smiling happy that he wouldn't have to be working with Adam any more. Hoss was concerned and wanted a chance to talk with Adam to see how he was reacting to this latest argument with their father. Hoss suspected that there was soon going to be another big one when someone caught Mac Davis drinking on the job. He had to hope that it would be Ben who actually caught him because that would be the best solution. The worst would be for Adam to be the one to catch him, but of course the worst-case scenario has the unfortunate habit of being the one that happens. Hoss worried that this would be one of those times.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

At school, Arty and Chester had some questions for Little Joe after he told them about his bad dream of the night before after they told him it sounded more like a visit than a bad dream. They reminded him that they had studied about the witchcraft trials in Salem and had heard how the witches visited the dreams of the girls. All three forgot that those dreams were considered as not reliable and that's why the trials were ended by the governor who said that they needed witnesses and physical evidence before any more witches could be tried or any more executions could take place. It seemed they remembered the more salacious parts of the history and forgot the facts. When they asked where Adam had gone to school and found that it was Boston, it sealed the argument as far as they were concerned. Little Joe wasn't entirely convinced.

"You gotta watch for things then. Does he do anything real odd?"

"Well, he likes to take rides at night sometimes. He tells Pa that it helps to clear his mind. Pa gets upset with him, but he can't hardly tell him he can't cause he's too old."

"That's it then. He's going out at night to do his bad stuff."

"What kind of bad stuff?"

"The kind of bad stuff that witches and them kind do. Remember, he's gonna make things go bad for his neighbors and friends. Anything bad happen to any of your neighbors lately?"

Little Joe remembered immediately the tragedy of the previous week. "Well, the Marlowe's baby died." Then with some thought, he remembered something that had occurred weeks earlier. "And the Jenkins had their cattle come down with some kind of fever and lost most of their herd. They're packing up and selling out. Pa's buying their land so they can afford to go."

"See. That's what happens. It's gonna be especially bad though for anybody he doesn't like. Who is it that he really doesn't like?"

Little Joe got a very sick feeling then in the pit of his stomach and stopped eating his lunch even though Hop Sing had packed some of his favorite food. He knew whom his oldest brother disliked the most. He didn't want to say it though. "Maybe we ought to stop talking about this stuff and try to have some fun before our lunchtime is over and we have to get back inside."

"Nah, I want to know who he doesn't like. You look like you don't want to tell us. Now why is that? It better not be our Pa." Little Joe's face was as easy to read as if the teacher had written it on the blackboard in big white chalk letters. "It is. He's gonna hurt our Pa. Little Joe, you better not let him."

"I can't stop him. He's too big, and he's got a gun."

"You better. You ain't a friend of ours ifn you don't stop him."

Arty pulled Little Joe up by the arm then and shoved him against the tree. He meant to reinforce his statement, but Little Joe shoved back. Chester stepped in to help his brother subdue a struggling Little Joe but instead drew the attention of the schoolteacher who summoned all three into the school where they were disciplined for fighting, and then Little Joe received an additional punishment for talking back when he tried to argue self-defense. Each was given a note to take home to their parents.

When Little Joe got home, Adam was bringing branding irons in to the forge to be repaired. Little Joe didn't want to see Adam and rushed into the stable. Because he dismounted so quickly, the note in his back pocket fell to the ground but he didn't notice. Adam saw it and walked over to pick it up before it blew away in the slight breeze. He saw what it said and walked into the stable handing it to Little Joe without saying anything. Little Joe was worried though when he saw what Adam had in his hand.

"That's my business not yours. I'll tell Pa about it so don't you go saying anything to him. You stay out of it."

Unwilling to make things any worse than they were, Adam left the stable without saying a word and went to work at the forge. He thought his father wasn't doing a good job with Little Joe letting him get away with far too much and expecting far too little from him, but whenever he mentioned anything about it, he invited more anger from his father. He got the forge heating and prepared to the materials he needed to work on the branding irons that they needed the next day. He stood by the forge pumping the bellows occasionally and getting the coals heating up nicely. No one else was there. He enjoyed the quiet because he could think. Then he heard an odd sound and walked toward the back of the stable to investigate.

Out in the pastures, Ben and Hoss were comparing their herd counts with those Adam had done. The numbers were coming out very well putting Ben in a good mood. Hoss thought that he had no better time than that to broach a subject that he thought needed to be discussed. "Pa, why are you and Adam fighting so much? It seems no matter what the idea is, you two can't talk about it without having words."

"If you mean by having words, that Adam objects to what I want him to do and likes to start an argument every time, then yes, it does seem that way."

Pursing his lips because he knew this next part was going to be the toughest part and might create the same kind of reaction that Adam had been getting, Hoss still thought he needed to forge ahead. "Pa, from where I stand when it happens, it kinda seems to be the other way around."

Turning to Hoss, Ben looked confused. "That I object to what Adam wants me to do and I start an argument?"

"No, no, it's not that. It's more like, well, you object to what Adam wants to do. You don't let him do the job you set out for him to do." Ben got that frown then that could only mean that his temper was rising so Hoss hurried to get the rest out before his father blew. "I mean, what I remember before Adam left for college, and he was only a bit older than I am now, was that you and him worked like partners. You handled a lot but you had him handling a lot too. You trusted him and lots of times you asked his advice and listened to his ideas on how to do things." Ben was ready to offer his side of the story, but Hoss raised his hand. "Now, Pa, I been thinking on this for a time. Please let me say my piece. Then if you want to punish me or whatever you want to do, that's fine, but I gotta say what's on my mind. Now, Adam went away to school and he was only seventeen. He come back a man and a lot smarter, but you treat him like he come back younger and dumber than when he left. That's gotta leave a sour taste in his belly. I know it would in mine, and well, I was wondering what happened."

"Are you done now?"

"Yessir, I am. I didn't mean no disrespect, Pa. It's that I see trouble in our family, and sometimes I get to worrying that Adam wishes he hadn't a come back at all. Maybe he's thinking he shoulda took one of them job offers he had."

Now that blindsided Ben. "What job offers?"

"Dadburnit, I wasn't never supposed to say nothing about them."

"Well, you have, so you need to tell me. What job offers?"

"Before he even graduated, Adam had job offers from some companies. A couple of them right there in Boston but one was in New York, and there was even a chance for him to go to London, England to work. He turned 'em all down cause he said he made a promise to you that he was coming home after he got his education. His grandpa was upset with him. Told him that a promise made when he was seventeen shouldn't hold him back from his future. Adam told him that he always kept his promises."

"I should have known the old pirate would try to take him away from me."

Hoss frowned. "Pa, that's the part you thought was important?"

A bit ashamed to admit it, Ben had to say that he was worried from the start that Abel Stoddard would try to entice Adam to stay in Boston. Then he faced what he had been trying to face for weeks and failing. His pride had been stung rather badly by quite a few taunts, and he had let that affect his relationship with his oldest son. He admitted to Hoss that people in town including close friends like Roy Coffee had asked him if he was going to take it easy now that Adam was back and ready to take over. He had set out to prove that he didn't need Adam to take over and had gone much too far of course in trying to prove he could do it all without Adam at all.

"It was my pride, son, my damnable pride."

"Dontcha think you ought to be saying this to a different one of your sons?"

"Yes, you're right. I have three sons. The oldest is a planner and a leader. The youngest brings joy wherever he goes. My middle son is the peacemaker and the guardian of the heart and soul of our family. Hoss, over the years, we may lean on you more than we should because of that."

"I don't mind, Pa. I got big shoulders."

"And a big heart to match. Thank you, son. If Adam had tried to tell me this, we would likely have butted heads. If Little Joe had tried to tell me, I would have thought he was joking around."

"Ah, Pa, with Little Joe. I think you need to spend more time with him. I think he's got some things on his mind too that he needs to share."

"Something else you are never supposed to say nothing about?" Ben smiled as he said it in a voice mimicking how Hoss would have said it. But Hoss nodded with a serious look and his frustration was evident. Ben smiled a bit wanly then. "Thank you. That's enough of a hint. I'll do my best to get him to talk to me, but the next week or two is going to be difficult and then we have the cattle drive."

"Maybe he could work part of the roundup with us."

"Adam said the same thing. He said that Little Joe ought to be getting some experience working with us on things like the roundup. He thinks I should spend more time with Little Joe too. I'm afraid I didn't listen to him on that any better than on anything else. You two haven't been talking about this, have you?"

"Not about that we haven't."

"I'll think about it. It might give us time to get to the bottom of those bad dreams he's been having."

"Yessir, it might."

That answer confirmed what Ben suspected. He had two sons with whom he needed to have heart-to-heart talks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Riding back to the ranch house with the hands late in the day, Ben felt more relaxed than he had in weeks. He realized that he had finally come to terms with some things that he shouldn't have let bother him at all. He had unfairly blamed Adam for his own insecurity and his worry about growing old without having completed his dream of building the Ponderosa into what he had wanted it to become. Now he knew that he needed to get back to what he had done before by working beside his sons to finish building that dream. He felt good about that and about how Hoss rode proudly beside him. Soon he hoped Adam would be riding there too. He would have to eat a little crow but that would taste far better than the ashes of his dream if he kept acting the way he had been. When they rode into the yard, there was a huge commotion and Adam was at the center of it fighting ferociously with the much larger Mac Davis. Adam was winning, but he was bloodied. Hoss and Ben waded into the foray and pulled the two apart infuriating Adam.

"I was taking care of it. I didn't need you to do that."

"I'm still in charge here." As soon as he said it, Ben knew it was the worst thing he could have said. He tried to backtrack, but it was too late. With all that had happened, Adam was in no mood to listen. He felt he had been undercut again and lost his temper.

"Then why don't you take charge of all of it. You can wipe his nose and his bloody ass too as far as I'm concerned. Hoss, can I have your horse? I need to take a ride." Adam grabbed his hat from the dirt and his jacket from the stack of wood fence poles stacked near the corral gate. He swung up on Chubb before Ben had a chance to try to mend the breach. He did his best to not make it any worse.

"Adam, we can talk when you get back. I'm sorry." He wasn't sure Adam heard that last part. He turned to the men standing in the yard then and asked what had happened. No one seemed to know claiming that they had ridden in shortly before Ben and Hoss and found the two men fighting. Little Joe came out of the house. "Little Joe, do you know what happened?"

"All I saw was Adam hit him. Then they started fighting."

Hop Sing was standing behind the men, and Ben saw the look he gave Little Joe at that version of events. He knew then that there had been at least one lie by omission. "Little Joe, what else happened? Adam does not hit people for no reason."

"Well, maybe he did." Ben waited, and that look of his made Little Joe nervous. "Well, Adam did say something about him drinking, and maybe Mister Davis did take a swing at him. But he missed so Adam didn't have to hit him."

"Yes, and was there anything said that perhaps had anything to do with Adam wanting to hit him?" Little Joe squirmed then. "Little Joe, I asked you a question, and I would very much appreciate an honest truthful answer and I would like to hear it right now."

"Pa, I can't say."

"Why can't you say?"

"Cause them words he used are words you said I can't say."

"Who used those words? Did Adam use those words?" Little Joe looked down at the dirt. "Little Joe, I am getting very irritated at having to ask questions twice. Now, answer my question."

"No, Mister Davis said that Adam was those words and that he had no right to fire him."

"Adam fired him?"

"Yeah, and Pa, he said he fired him for drinking out of his canteen. Now Adam can't fire somebody for drinking out of their canteen, can he?"

Hoss walked over then and picked up the canteen that lay in the dirt near the corral fence. He pulled the stopper and sniffed before shaking his head and then walking to his father and handing the canteen to him. "That's how he did it. He was drinking in front of us all the time. He had it mixed in with his water in his canteen. He always had two canteens on his horse. Said he was thirsty all the time. We figured he was thirsty cause he was drinking. We never figured on him drinking like that."

Sitting on the corner of the horse trough, Mac was cradling his right arm. "Your damn boy probably broke my arm. How am I gonna work with a broken arm?"

Ben turned toward Mac and the anger was evident. "My son, Adam, is not a boy. He's a man, and he found you drinking on the job. I'm guessing he fired you too."

"He tried to."

"No, he did."

"He can't fire me."

"No, I believe he did. It's the fifteenth of the month so I owe you fifteen dollars. I shouldn't pay you for today, but I will."

"What about my arm? I have to pay the doc for splinting it up, and then I won't be able to work for a month or more. How am I gonna be able to feed my boys?"

"You should have thought about that before you decided to drink on the job. I warned you, and Adam warned you. You chose to ignore those warnings. I'll have someone give you a ride home."

"I gotta get my things."

Waving his hand for Mac to go ahead and collect his things, Ben asked if one of the hands would be willing to drive him to town for an extra two dollars. He quickly had two volunteers. Ben gave them an extra five dollars. "Buy some food at the store and drop it off at their house so the boys have some food to eat. Then come on back here but drive carefully." Ben went in the house with his sons but found out from the hands later that Mac's things consisted of saddlebags of jugs of homebrew he had stashed out behind the stable so that he could refill his canteens when he ran low. He mixed it with his water and always had some with him. Adam had caught him refilling a canteen, and that was how the fight had started. Adam had grabbed the canteen, sniffed it, and told Mac he was fired and that Adam was holding the canteen as evidence to show his father. Mac went to get the damning canteen back and the fight had been on. Mac was big and powerful but the alcoholism had taken its toll, and Adam was young, strong, and quick. Mac had bull rushed Adam at one point but Adam had sidestepped him and let him smack into the corral fence. That was how he broke a bone in his arm. In his fury and with the alcohol, the pain of the break didn't register until the fight was ended. Ben didn't know if Adam had any injuries because he wasn't back by dinner.

Dinner was fairly quiet as all three were thoughtful. Ben was thinking about what he would say to Adam when he returned home. Hoss was glad that finally his father and older brother were going to be working things out, and he was glad that Mac Davis would no longer be working on the ranch. Mac was a potential problem wherever he was so it was better to have him gone. Little Joe was quiet because his whole plan for dealing with the trouble in school was in shambles. In the past, Mac Davis had always been willing to sign the notes from the teacher forging Ben Cartwright's signature. Little Joe would usually wait for him on the road or meet him at his house and then ride to school with Arty and Chester, and Mac was always willing to help out. Ben had no idea that Little Joe got one of these notes every week or two which was about the same rate as Arty and Chester got them. He always did the punishments prescribed by the teacher, and he let the teacher presume that his father was meting out the appropriate punishments at home. That plan was completely in ruins now. Even if Little Joe could get the note to Mac Davis, Adam had broken the man's right arm so he couldn't sign. He could always tell the teacher that he had to sign with his left hand for his own sons, but that wouldn't work for Little Joe who was very worried and went up to his room early. Ben wondered at that but supposed that perhaps Little Joe had not gotten enough sleep the night before because of the bad dream. Hoss wanted to wait up for Adam too because he was riding Chubb, but by nine, he couldn't keep his eyes open.

"Go to bed, son. You know that Adam would not hurt a horse. He'll take good care of Chubb. I'll stay up and wait for him to get home."

It was another hour before Ben heard a horse enter the yard. He had been waiting for that sound and praying for it. With a great sigh of relief, he lit a lantern and headed to the stable where he could see a faint glow from the open door. He entered as Adam was removing the saddle from Chubb. He paused and then set it on the saddle stand before silently removing the saddle blanket and draping it over the stall wall. Ben hung the lantern on a hook and grabbed a curry brush. He moved to the opposite side of the stall and began grooming Chubb as Adam got water and grain for the horse.

"Adam, I'm sorry for what I said. It was the wrong thing to say, and I sincerely apologize. Mac is gone. He told us you fired him, and that was good enough for me." Adam had looked wary but that caught him by surprise. "Yes, and there have been a lot of things lately that should have been good enough for me. I want to talk all of this out with you, but it's late, and I'm guessing you're hungry, tired, and a bit sore. After a few drinks in town, you need to get some sleep too so you're in good shape to work tomorrow." Adam gave him one of those little half smiles of his and a small nod. "Let's take good care of Chubb then, and I'm sure that Hop Sing has some food waiting for you. He thinks I was a damn fool so he'll want to make sure you know that he isn't." That got a chuckle from Adam who winced though. "Jaw hurt?"

"No, my head hurts." Adam pulled off his hat to show a large lump on his forehead. "I didn't go to town for a drink. I went to the lake to cool down and think. I lost my temper with Mac. I shouldn't have gotten into that fight with him. I didn't have to. When he took a swing at me, I let everything that had been happening get the better of me, and I took it out on him. I'm sorry about that. I needed to cool off before I said or did anything else that I was going to regret. I'm sorry too for the angry words I spoke to you. It was uncalled for. I cooled down at the lake and had time to think it through. Then when I was ready to ride back, I found out that Chubb isn't nearly as good in the dark as Sport is. He rode me right into a branch and nearly took me right out of the saddle. I had to walk him all the way back and stay out in the open. That's why it got so late."

"Allow me this one moment to gloat that you don't know everything. I was beginning to worry that you might."

"No, Pa, I still have a lot to learn."

"That's all right, son, because so do I. So do I."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

At breakfast the next morning, Hoss was surprised to see Adam with a large bruise on his forehead and asked what happened. He had seen Adam walk to the house with their father the night before and thought all was well. He had been in bed but unable to fall into a sound sleep with both Adam and Chubb out in the darkness so he had been easily awakened when Adam rode into the yard. At first happy to see both Chubb and Adam looking healthy, he was even more happy when he saw his father and Adam walk to the house talking softly with each other and looking relaxed. He had gone to bed and slept peacefully for the rest of the night. He was relieved to hear that the bruise on Adam's forehead had been the result of a simple accident and nothing serious. As he watched Little Joe come down the stairs though, it was clear his younger brother had not slept well at all. As Little Joe approached the table, the circles under his eyes were dark. Adam took a quick look but declined to comment knowing anything he said was likely to start trouble. Hoss too didn't want to create any turmoil at what was for a change a peaceful moment at the breakfast table. It wasn't going to last though. Ben had stopped in Little Joe's room the night before to check on him before going to his own bed. He had smiled at first at the usual disarray of his youngest son's room and bent to pick up his jacket and a few other items on the floor. When he did so though a note had fallen to the floor. Ben had picked it up, taken it to the hall to read it, and then returned it to the room tucking it back into Joe's jacket pocket. He waited to see what Little Joe would say about it. When breakfast was done and all three sons prepared to depart for the day, Ben asked Little Joe to stay.

"But Pa, I got to get to school. You don't want me to be late, do you?"

"What I want is to know when you are going to show me that note from the teacher?"

With a blistering look at Adam, Little Joe dug the note from his pocket and handed it to his father. He didn't even realize that his father didn't read it when he set it on the table next to his plate. Little Joe's mind was consumed with the belief that Adam had betrayed his secret to their father. Not wanting to intrude on the scene, Adam and Hoss left for their day's work. As they got outside, Hoss asked Adam if he knew anything about what had happened inside.

"Little Joe had a note from the teacher about fighting and talking back. He dropped it yesterday and I saw it. I don't know how Pa knew about it."

"From the look you got from Little Joe, he thinks you told Pa."

"I suppose he does, and I doubt there is anything I could say that would change his mind about that. He's determined to believe the worst of me. There's nothing I can do about that. Let's get to work. At least Pa and I have come to somewhat of an understanding. He said he wants to talk tonight. I'm looking forward to that and putting right some things between us. Do I have you to thank for that?"

That aw shucks look and the downward look accompanied Hoss' affirmative answer. Adam thanked him and like his father emphasized Hoss' important role in the family. "The rest of us have tempers we have trouble controlling. You're the one who's got the best handle on that."

"But what happens ifn I lose my temper?"

"Then we all better watch out."

"Yeah, and you especially with that smart mouth of yours."

"It does tend to get me a poke in the mouth now and then or at least some people try."

"You could try to hold back sometimes."

"I could, but the truth wants to bust out so bad that most of the time I can't especially when I get mad."

"Hey, speaking of truth, I got an idea of where Mac mighta been brewing his hooch. I seen him riding in a lot of mornings coming cross-country a bit. I'm wondering if he's been using that old settler's cabin that's half stove in. He would need a place with a chimney and that's got one, and nobody goes there no more. He could stop there on the way home every day too. You want to check that out before we head on over to the branding?"

"Yeah, let's do that. If that's where it is, then I have an idea why we've been having such high grain bills too. Pa's been complaining about that."

Inside the house, Little Joe was having a painful discussion with his father. First he had to explain why he had the note and had not shown his father. He had no good reason for that or certainly not one he could share with his father so he lied and said he forgot about it. Then he got a swift punishment and was sent to school with an admonishment not to get in any more trouble. As he rode to school, every bounce in that saddle reminded him that he wanted to come up with a plan of revenge against Adam for all the wrongs he perceived his oldest brother had done against him.

When Little Joe arrived at school though, he had an entirely different problem with the angry brothers, Arty and Chester Davis, waiting for him.

"Your brother fired our Pa."

"Yeah, and he broke his arm too so he can't work."

Little Joe though had an answer for them. "He squealed on me to my Pa too, and got me a tanning this morning. I'm mad at him too, and there was nothing I could do about him firing your pa. My Pa and everybody was there and your pa had booze in his canteen."

"Well, Pa's gotta take some now and then. He's in too much pain otherwise. They oughta to of understood that. Our Pa's got a lot of problems."

"Well, I got a lot of problems too."

"I bet you have three meals a day every day though, and I bet you always have boots that don't have holes in 'em, and I bet you got socks to wear in your boots too. We don't got that, and now your brother made it worse."

Their logic of blaming Adam was shaky and Joe knew it, but at that moment, he was still upset and not ready to defend his oldest brother. He let it slide and agreed with them. It mollified them for the moment and softened their attitude toward him. The schoolteacher called to them and wanted to see the notes signed by their parents. She had them sit separately in the school that day, and at the end of the day had another note ready for them to take home.

"I have thought about this since yesterday. It has been over a month now of the three of you getting in trouble on a regular basis. The punishments I mete out here at school and those that your parents are undoubtedly giving to you at your homes to reinforce that have not done enough to curb your behaviors. I saw you today again talking angrily at lunchtime. I want your fathers to meet with me at school here tomorrow morning. I have that in my note. Now, that's all for today. I suggest you think about your behaviors and what you plan to tell your fathers about how you will be adjusting those behaviors to better fit within the school rules."

At first, Joe wanted to retort that they had not been talking angrily at lunchtime, but there were two reasons he didn't. Usually he was impulsive enough that thinking wouldn't have occurred in time to halt his immediate idea from becoming a response, but sitting all day on sore buttocks especially for two hours that afternoon without a break had him reconsidering how far he wanted to push his father. He knew he was already going to be in a great deal of trouble when his father found out about the other notes that he had not received. Joe was thinking furiously and could not come up with a way out of that dilemma. The other thing that stopped him was that although they had not been talking angrily, he could hardly tell her what they had been doing which was describing the various grisly demises of his oldest brother. As they had done so, they had adopted the appropriate serious and villainous tone befitting a conversation filled with decapitation, bloodletting, and various other gruesome acts. He knew if he had mentioned any of that, there would be further repercussions for him then and not only from her because his father would be outraged to learn of that kind of conversation.

As Little Joe and the Davis brothers left school to begin their ride home, Little Joe was concerned about his father's reaction but Arty and Chester were concerned about how they would ever wake their father early enough in the morning and then get him to go to school to meet with the teacher. Little Joe wanted to know why that would be such a problem.

"Now that your brother fired him, Pa says the only money he's got coming in is from the hooch he can make. He's got a big batch brewing, and he'll spend every night tending it. It's the only money we'll have for the next month so it's real important. He won't get in 'til nearly dawn. I don't see as how he's gonna wanna come on over to the school to tell the teacher that we behave as well as we're gonna."

What none of them knew yet was that Adam and Hoss had discovered the still, dismantled it, and destroyed the hooch. Adam had sent Hoss back for a wagon and had him take their unused grain back to their stable with orders to fire the half collapsed cabin when he was done. No one would use it for anything ever again. Hoss spent the morning watching over the fire to make sure it didn't spread and then brought the grain back to the stable as instructed. He met his father for lunch and explained the whole thing.

"So Mac was stealing grain from us to make alcohol that he was drinking on the job. He must have been selling it too. The amount you describe is far too much for one man even if he has a drinking problem."

"Yeah, that's what Adam thought too. He figured he'd be back and stealing more grain and such unless we put him permanently out of business. He won't be making no more hooch on the Ponderosa."

None of them knew the dire consequences of that action and how lives were going to be changed. Mac was going to be shocked when he arrived at the old settler's cabin that night only to find that not only was his still and his stock of hooch gone, but the cabin itself was only smoking embers and ashes. He didn't know then that the cabin had been torched. He thought that he had made an error of some kind that had caused a fire. He turned toward his home not knowing how he was going to buy food for his sons and support them. He knew he had made a terrible mess of his life since his wife had died and thought his sons would be better off without him because he saw himself as such a failure in every regard. When he got home, he took care of his horse, pulled out a bottle, and drank until dawn.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

As Little Joe had ridden home from school with that note, he had tried to find a way to blame Adam for what had happened. It seemed so convenient lately to put all of his troubles on his oldest brother, but there were doubts about that which were troubling him. Hoss had been the one to cause him to question his belief that Adam had caused the bad dreams. He did remember that when he was younger, Adam often was the one who soothed him when he had bad dreams. He had remembered why he preferred Adam rather than his father when his nights were disturbed by bad dreams and nightmares. His father soothed him and sat beside him until he was calm, but Adam laid down beside him and wrapped an arm around him or told him to crawl in bed beside him where he could sleep safely until morning. He couldn't reconcile those newly retrieved memories with a man who would invade his mind with bad dreams at night. Then despite what he had said and what Arty and Chester had said, he knew that Mac had been drinking and saw the much larger man take a swing at Adam the day before. He also knew that the reason Mac broke his arm was that he rushed toward Adam who stepped out of the way and let Mac's momentum carry him into the corral fence. That had been near the end of the fight about when his father and Hoss had arrived home. Little Joe had found himself cheering Adam on wanting him to win. When their father had arrived, he had caught himself and adopted his more combative attitude. He didn't know why he did that and regretted it. He wished he had congratulated his oldest brother instead of saying what he had said. He knew he was making a mess of things but didn't know how to clear things up. What he did know was that Adam was upset with him, Hoss was upset with him, and when he got home with that note, his father was going to be even more upset with him., He was filled with dread about going to school with his father that next morning because his father was going to find out that there had been other notes that he had never received. Little Joe didn't know what kind of punishment he was going to receive for that but knew it was likely to be the worst he had ever gotten. He knew Adam had received tannings with a belt when he was younger, and he had a great fear that was what awaited him. When the buildings of home came into view, his heart rate increased even as he felt cold all over. He was about to have a lesson in courage even though he didn't know it yet. It got worse when the first person he saw was his father.

"Little Joe, I hope today was a better day at school than yesterday." When Little Joe dropped his head, Ben's stomach dropped too. He knew it meant trouble. It seemed that with three sons, as soon as things calmed down with one, trouble loomed with another. With Little Joe, it seemed he couldn't get through a single week without a bad experience. He loved his sons dearly but wished that there could be more times when there was peace in the family. "What happened today?"

Digging in his pocket, Little Joe handed over the note. After the experience of the previous day, he knew better than to even try delaying that. He had even come up with a cover story for why they were seen as being angry. e had He"Pa, we weren't being mad like she thought. Arty and Chester were talking about their Pa being fired and about how Adam beat him in a fight and how he doesn't have a job now and how they're not sure how they're going to get food. That's all it was. They were upset not mad."

"Did you explain that to the teacher?"

Dropping his head again, Little Joe was frustrated. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because when I tried to explain the day before she called it talking back."

Taken aback by that somewhat because that had been part of the reason for Joe's punishment that morning, Ben had to ask again. "You tried to explain but she wouldn't let you?"

"Yes, Pa. She said that I was talking back to her, and she put that in the note so I didn't even try to explain today."

"Well, I guess then it is a good thing that I'm going to talk to her tomorrow. It seems we may have a few things to clear up. I want you behaving better at school, but I want you to be able to explain yourself too without being punished for it. Now go put your horse away. Adam and Hoss are already taking care of theirs and doing chores. You can help."

In the stable, Little Joe took one look at Hoss and could guess what he was thinking. He knew that Hoss didn't like the way that he had been treating Adam and now with the trouble in school and hiding that note from his father, he knew Hoss was very disappointed in him. He could only guess at how upset Hoss would be when he found out about all the other notes he had gotten and never showed to his father having gotten Mac Davis to forge Ben's signature on them. Hoss finished his chores silently and left for the house. Little Joe wondered why Adam didn't go with him and seemed to be delaying. It wasn't like Adam lately to try to spend any time near him not that Little Joe could blame him for that. What happened next surprised him completely. Adam started to walk toward the door of the stable but stopped and started talking without turning around.

"I know you probably don't want any advice from me and you'll probably get mad that I'm saying anything at all right now, but you didn't get that note from the teacher to have a meeting with Pa after doing one thing wrong."

"You don't know that. You're just guessing."

Adam continued on as if Joe had said nothing. "There have been others and you need to tell Pa that before he goes to school tomorrow morning and gets hit with that news. Pa likes to be in charge and he likes to make the decisions. By withholding that information, you're putting him in a position where that schoolteacher is going to be making the decisions and telling him what to do. It will hurt his pride to be in that position and it will hurt his heart to know you have lied to him."

"You don't know what happened." Adam remained silent but dropped his head as he put one hand up against the stable door. He wasn't going to argue. He had drawn a logical assumption and Little Joe's defensiveness and failure to deny it were further evidence that he had drawn the correct conclusion. Little Joe tried a different tactic. "I didn't lie."

"Tell it any way you like, but tell him the truth tonight. You want to be treated like you're growing up, then it's time to act it."

Without another word, Adam left then leaving Little Joe sputtering and trying to think of something to say and having nothing to counter what had been said. He finished his chores thinking about all that had happened until he heard his name being called for dinner and realized he had taken a very long time. He rushed to wash before dinner and get to the table. He apologized for being late and was quiet for the meal. At the end of the meal in which he had eaten very little, he asked in a choked voice if he could speak privately with his father.

Excusing themselves, Hoss and Adam walked over to sit by the fireplace giving Little Joe the chance to speak quietly to their father that he had requested. Hoss was curious and wanted to turn to watch but didn't. He did however notice that Adam made no effort at all to see what was happening. Hoss got Adam's attention by tapping on his knee and then leaning over and whispering to him.

"You know what's going on over there?" Adam nodded. "You tell me later?" He got a shrug in response to that and knew that Adam would tell him if he thought he should know. No one would ever force Adam to tell them something if he thought they shouldn't know. After about fifteen minutes, Little Joe rushed by them and headed up the stairs. He had tears streaming down his face. Ben was going to follow him up the stairs but Adam stood and put a hand on his father's arm.

"Not now, Pa."

"Adam, we'll talk about you being a partner in the ranch, and I have apologized to you for not treating you fairly in that regard, but you have no place in this."

"I do. I was part of this for many years, and I still am unless I'm not part of the family any more."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course you're still part of the family."

"Then hear me out, please. When he was younger and Hoss was younger, you let me tell you when you were reacting too strongly. Marie had told you that you were too harsh with me and convinced you of it. When she was gone, we talked about that. I told you that the punishments you gave me often made me angry not remorseful because you were angry when you punished me. You're angry now, and that's what Little Joe will remember. Let him suffer alone tonight. Punish him tomorrow when you have had time to think it through and decide on the course of action you want to take not what your anger is telling you to do."

Seething while Adam was talking, Ben had used all the strength of will that he had not to strike out verbally at his eldest son for his impertinence and his comments. Slowly though the logic penetrated. Ben jerked his arm away from Adam's hand and turned his back on both of his older sons willing his breathing and heart rate to slow. Finally he grabbed his pipe and tobacco pouch. "You tell him to stay in his room and go to bed in an hour. There will be no excuses for anything else." With that, Ben stomped outside.

Hoss let out his breath audibly. "Dadburnit, I would rather face cattle stampeding at me than have to face Pa in that mood again. I don't know how you do it."

"It's not easy. I'm glad I used the necessary before dinner though."

Hoss had to chuckle at that. "You want me to go deliver the message to the boy?" At Adam's nod, Hoss headed up the stairs. At Joe's door, he knocked and opened the door to find Joe standing there facing the door with a confused look when Hoss entered instead of their father. "Adam talked Pa into waiting until tomorrow. Pa says you gotta stay in your room here and go to bed in an hour. He said there are no excuses for you doing anything else."

"Why did Adam have to go and do that? Now I have to wait all night for that tanning."

"Maybe not."

"What?"

"He told Pa he ought to think about what he was going to do. He reminded him that he tanned him when he was younger and it didn't work out too good sometimes. I don't know what Pa is gonna do, but you're lucky that Adam spoke up for you cause with the look Pa had, you woulda been sore for a month if he woulda come up here."

"Why would Adam do that for me?"

Shaking his head, Hoss began to pull the door closed. "And that's the whole problem, ain't it. You don't understand what it means to love your brother." With that, the door clicked shut.

3


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

When Hoss went upstairs, Adam went outside to see his father smoking furiously. He smiled a little knowing his father probably wasn't enjoying that smoking at all and soon would realize the pipe was too hot too. Soon Ben did and knocked everything out onto the dirt frustrated with that as well.

"I don't think tonight is going to be a good night for us to have that talk."

"No, I don't suppose it is." Adam said nothing more standing silently staring up at the stars while his father continued to fume.

"I don't know why you stood up for Little Joe like that especially with the way he's been treating you lately."

"I think I did it more for you than for him. He could probably use a good tanning right about now."

"For me? I don't understand."

"You were furious. You still are. You were going to punish him because you were angry. Tomorrow you were going to regret it, and there would be no way to take it back, and no way to fix what had been done. Sometimes saying you're sorry isn't enough."

"I don't suppose you have a suggestion as to what I should do."

Adam shook his head at that one. "No, sir, I do not. Little Joe is a difficult one and always has been. I do think that his friendship with the Davis brothers is a big part of the problem right now. He does tend to gravitate toward boys like that."

"Yes, he does. I seem to recall that I had another son with a similar penchant." Ben looked sideways then at Adam who shrugged. It was true. The Bonner brothers and Carl had been bad influences. He had been smart enough to avoid getting into serious trouble at least and had been a bit older before he was exposed to them. "At least you never lied to me." Ben paused. "Except by omission of course. You did tend to avoid telling me some things, but when I asked you a direct question, I got an answer. Little Joe has been telling lies. When I have asked him about school, he has told me that everything has been fine. That was not true any of the times he told me that."

"Have you considered taking him out of school for a week or two and having him work the roundup?"

"Reward him for his bad behavior?"

"It wouldn't be a reward if he's working with me and Hoss. We'll be heading out early and won't be getting back until late and then it's chores before dinner. He'll be working ten or twelve hour days. There won't be time to play and be with his friends. It gets him away from the Davis brothers and we'll all have a chance to talk with him over that week or two. Maybe he'll start seeing things more our way."

"What about his schoolwork?" Ben repacked his pipe and relit it smoking more normally. He wasn't so different from his oldest son. He was buying time to think through what had been said. "I suppose he could come back in to the house in the middle of the afternoon to work on schoolwork under my supervision. Then it would be bedtime at eight so he would be up in time to go out with you and Hoss early each morning. He might not think it's a discipline though."

"If you explain it like that, I think he'll get the picture."

"I'll think about it. I don't want to make a decision yet. I want to talk to the teacher tomorrow. I can decide after I find out the extent of what happened that I don't know about." Adam nodded and turned to go back into the house knowing that Hoss would be very worried and wondering what was happening. "Adam, thank you, and you can tell Hoss that things are working out. We'll talk more tomorrow. I'm too upset tonight to talk any more about this or anything else now."

"I understand. I wouldn't expect you to talk tonight. I'm glad you heard me out. That was important. Good night, Pa."

Breakfast the next morning was a very quiet affair. Hoss and Adam left for work before a very somber Ben left with Little Joe. They arrived at school to meet with the teacher who insisted they wait for the Davises who did not arrive. After fifteen minutes of waiting, she finally agreed to discuss the situation with Ben alone. By then, he knew what she was going to say and cut her off telling her what Little Joe had told him the night before and asking if that was true. She was taken aback somewhat by his manner but agreed that he had the whole story. He told her he would handle it now that he had the complete story and asked if there was anything else she wanted to add. Flustered, she had nothing more to say. Ben bid her farewell then, put on his hat, and left. Little Joe sat at his desk silently and still hoping not to attract any attention but because he was the only one in the room, that wasn't a successful strategy. Soon he was fetching firewood and kindling from outside, a bucket of water, and then sweeping the floor. By the time the other students arrived, all the tasks were completed and the school day was ready to begin. The Davis brothers arrived late and were directed to get to their lessons. At recess, they were held inside while all the other students were sent outside. At lunch, Little Joe wanted to know what happened.

"She was mad cause our Pa didn't show up this morning. We told her he was sick, but he was just drunk. We had to haul him from the stable to the house and that's why we were late. He told us that the still is gone and so's all the liquor he made. We got nothing to sell."

"Yeah, ifn we starve to death now, it's all your brother's fault."

"He didn't know when he told Hoss to burn down that cabin that you needed that liquor so you could eat."

"He told Hoss to burn it down? Pa thought he burned it down by accident."

At that point, Little Joe realized that he had created a problem and tried to back away from it. "Maybe I didn't hear that right at home. Maybe it was an accident."

"No, you heard it right. That bastard brother of yours is out to get us. Well, Chester, we ought to do something about that."

"Yeah, and Little Joe, you oughta help us after all he done to you."

"No, I don't want my brother hurt."

"What? Yesterday you was saying all those ways you wanted him hurt."

"Well, that was joking around not serious. Last night he helped me out a lot. I don't want him hurt."

"He didn't help us none. All he done was cause trouble. It's time somebody caused some trouble for him."

"Don't you do nothing to my brother!"

"Or what? You can't stop us now can you?"

Chester and Arty swaggered off at that point trying to seem as if they owned the world when all they actually felt was fear and a sense of abandonment for it seemed that they were alone with no one to help them. After lunch, when everyone went back inside, Chester and Arty were missing. They had gone home to check on their father and tell him what they had learned from Little Joe. By the end of the day, they had not returned. Little Joe rode home alone worried about what his father was going to say to him and how he was going to be punished. He was worried too about Arty and Chester and wondering if they were actually going to try to do something to Adam. They were only eleven and twelve years old so he wondered what they could possibly do to a man of twenty-two, but then he recalled some of the things that they had mentioned the day before and it worried him. He decided that he would have to tell his father about that conversation even if it meant even more punishment. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Adam. He fully expected that he was going to have a very unpleasant few weeks coming up and perhaps even a very unpleasant few months. He was very deliberate when he took care of his horse but could only delay very briefly knowing his father would be expecting him inside to discuss what had happened at school that morning. He walked to the house like a man going to an execution. Hoss watched him go and had a difficult time suppressing a grin knowing that Adam was probably at school already picking up Little Joe's work for the next week. Their father had decided to take Little Joe out of school for a week and put him to work on the roundup but not let him skip his schoolwork either. His discipline for what he had done was going to be working very hard with no play for the next week. He was going to think that going to church on Sunday was a treat. After that, he was going to have extra chores while Adam and Hoss were gone on the drive for six weeks. By the time they got home, Ben thought the lesson should have sunk in sufficiently. As Little Joe stood in front of Ben's desk, Ben was about to explain all of that, but Little Joe interrupted.

"Pa, I know you got important stuff to say to me, and if what I had to say wasn't really important, I wouldn't ask you to wait but I have to."

"You have to? What could be that important?"

"I think that Arty and Chester might be thinking of doing something bad to Adam." Then Little Joe had to explain to his horrified father exactly why he knew that and what kinds of things they might be considering doing and where.

"You said they left school early today?" At Joe's nod, he had to ask more. "Do you have any idea if they were planning to do anything today?"

"I don't know, Pa. That's why I had to interrupt you because you have to warn Adam so if they try, he'll be ready for them."

"Little Joe, Adam went to town to run some errands. One of those errands was to get your schoolwork so that you could take a week off from school to help with the roundup." Little Joe smiled but suddenly realized that Adam could be in danger. "Exactly. I see that you understand now. He went to town alone and he's riding home alone. If they were to ambush him as you said they talked about doing, he would have no way of knowing that could happen. Now, you sit here. Hoss and I are going to go find him."

"Pa, let me go too? I know the places that Arty and Chester said might be good places for an ambush."

"All right, but hurry."

It was already too late however. Chester and Arty had seen Adam ride into town. They had gotten a rope and ridden out to one of the spots they had thought would be a good place for an ambush and laid the rope across the road covering the thin strand with a light coat of dust camouflaging it well. Then they each took an end and climbed up into the rocks on either side of the road. At a signal from Chester, Arty was to pull the rope up as hard and fast as he could. The idea was that Adam would ride into it at a gallop, and if their father was correct, it would take his head nearly off if they calculated the height correctly. Mac said that back in Kentucky, he and others had done that to two men who were hated. He said there would be no evidence against them because they would take the rope with them and no one would ever suspect what had happened because it would look like a riding accident. It worked but not as well as they hoped. As they pulled the rope up, they were too slow and Adam threw up an arm to protect himself and slowed his horse somewhat as well. The rope hit him knocking him from the saddle but his left foot was still tangled in the stirrup. Sport dragged him nearly a hundred feet before he was thrown loose and down the embankment of the river. Panicked, the horse continued running down along the river as Adam tumbled into the saplings and brush along the bank before lying still with his left ankle wedged tightly between two saplings preventing him from slipping into the water.

Perhaps fifteen minutes later, Ben rode with Hoss and Little Joe passing near where Adam lay unconscious and unmoving. Chester and Arty were long gone having brushed out their tracks and the taken their rope. They had assumed that Adam had gone into the river. Thinking that it had worked out well, they had gone home to report to their father that the deed was done. Ben got to town but didn't see Adam anywhere. When he checked with the schoolteacher and found that Adam had been there and gotten Little Joe's schoolwork, he looked at the road that led toward the Ponderosa and knew something terrible had happened.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Before returning to look for Adam, Ben went to see Sheriff Roy Coffee. He wanted to explain to him what might have happened and to get help for a search. Hoss headed out with Little Joe to start looking along the road for any sign of their brother. When Ben followed them a short time later with Roy, the thunder he heard and the dark clouds with lightning on the horizon only made a dire situation even worse. Roy's deputy Clem was rounding up more men to help, but the storm and the impending dusk meant that they had very little time to find Adam. It wasn't looking hopeful. They had ridden past the rocks where Adam was ambushed when Little Joe looked back and wondered about one of the things that Arty and Chester had said. He wanted to ride back to check out the area and told Hoss why.

"Little Joe, I didn't see no tracks there. I need to keep going and see if I can see any tracks along the road here before it gets too dark."

"I'm going back to look then. I'll wait there for Pa and ride with him. He should be there pretty soon."

"All right. I ain't got time to argue with you."

Back at the rocks, Little Joe looked around, and like Hoss, found no tracks. Then he wondered if there would be tracks up in the rocks and began to climb up there. He looked on one side and found nothing but on the other side he found tracks. Apparently Arty had not thought that anyone would be looking for tracks up in those rocks. Where Arty had stood when had pulled the rope was clear because his heels had dug deeply into the dirt behind the rocks there. Little Joe climbed down from the rocks and looked around then wondering what had become of Adam. Tears flowed because he believed that Adam was dead.

On the riverbank a hundred feet away, Adam was regaining consciousness. Slowly he came to realize that he was on a gravel slope and that his head was at the lowest point. He tried to pull up but agonizing pain shot through his left leg when he made any kind of movement. When he lifted his head, waves of nausea threatened his stomach contents. He laid his head back and was still until everything subsided enough for him to evaluate his situation. He moved his right leg experimentally and found that it too was very painful. Worse than that though was that he could find no solid surface under it. Any movement brought soil and gravel sliding down the embankment. The good news was that he wasn't going to slide into the river because his left leg was stuck. The bad news was that he couldn't get out of his predicament either. Then he heard the thunder and knew things could get a lot worse. He could hope the storm was only wind, but at this time of year, it was likely going to be a lot of rain. He reached for his pistol hoping it was still there and planning to fire off three shots to summon help. Just before firing though, he had a coherent thought and knew he needed to check the barrel. He had been dragged through the dirt for quite a distance and the barrel might have dirt plugging it. He used his little finger to probe the end of it and found to his disgust that it was plugged with dirt. He had nothing there with which to clean it out. He pushed it back into this holster and thought about what he could do and found it wasn't much. Then the rain started to fall and quickly became a torrential downpour. He opened his mouth for some water to wash the dust and dirt from his mouth. He spit and then did it again. He wished he had his pocketknife, but it was in the jacket that was tied to the back of the saddle on his horse. He was going to have to remember to keep that knife in his pants pocket in the future. Then he laughed a mirthless laugh because he wasn't so sure that he had a future.

Before the rain had started to fall so heavily, on the road, Ben had arrived with Roy and Little Joe had waved them down and explained what he had found. He told them that he thought that Adam was dead and what he thought that Arty and Chester had done.

"Now, Little Joe, ifn they done what you think they done, there'd be a body here now, wouldn't there? There's no body, so Adam can't be dead, now can he?"

With a frown, Little Joe considered what Sheriff Coffee had said, but Ben asked where he was then. About then, Hoss came back leading Sport.

"He's got a scrape on his head, and the left stirrup is all tore up."

That fit with Little Joe's theory so Ben and Roy were more interested then in a search of the immediate vicinity. The rain grew heavier, and that was going to make things very difficult, and the clouds had made it darker as well. They began to ride in circles looking for any sign of Adam. They didn't see anything and began to ride further and further from the rocks. Ben told Little Joe to dismount and hold his horse and Sport. At that point, Little Joe was only a short distance from Adam who had once again lapsed into a semiconscious state. It was Sport who seemed to realize that Adam was there and kept trying to go to him. Little Joe was having trouble controlling the big horse and couldn't imagine why he wanted to go to the river. Slowly they were edging closer to it as the big horse kept forcing Little Joe to let him move further in that direction. Finally they were on the edge of the embankment and Little Joe looked down and was shocked to see his brother laying there unmoving. He dropped the reins of both horses and scrambled down the bank to Adam's side calling his name. Adam roused and smiled a little smile.

"About time somebody got here. Where's everybody else?"

"They went looking further on. We didn't see you down here. Adam, I need to go get them. Are you going to be all right until I get back?"

Water was already lapping at the back of Adam's head. He could tell it was rising rapidly. "I don't think I've got much time. The rain is making the river rise fast. If you get my pocketknife out of my jacket, we can clean out the barrel of my pistol and shoot it to bring the others."

As quickly as he could, Little Joe did that. He opened the pocketknife and handed it to Adam who drew his pistol and began working the dirt from the end of the barrel. Then he told Joe to stand way back.

"Why?"

"Because if I didn't get it all, this barrel is going to blow up. I don't want you to get hurt."

And there it was again. Adam had put himself in harm's way and worked to protect Little Joe. Little Joe had never felt great shame in his life before that moment. He never wanted to feel that way again either. When Adam successfully fired three shots, Little Joe smiled and moved back to his side even as Adam worked to push himself up on his elbows although the loose gravel and dirt made it difficult. The water was now even higher as Adam was doing his best to keep his head above the water. Little Joe knelt by his side and lifted his head and shoulders. Adam was grimacing with the pain from his legs, and Little Joe realized for the first time that his brother had a head injury when blood smeared across his shirt.

"Little Joe, don't do that. It's too dangerous. You should get up on the bank where it's safe. This whole bank could slide into the river."

Struggling against the slippery slope, Little Joe said nothing until he got himself into a stable position. "No, you need me so this is where I'm staying. It's what brothers do for each other isn't it? I mean brothers who love each other do stuff like this, right?"

Adam smiled and nodded. "All right, if you're going to do that, then come around so I can get my arm around you. I don't want you to slide down into the water either." It took Little Joe another minute at least to work his way under Adam's outstretched arm, but he had to admit to himself that it felt good to have that strong arm around him even as he wrapped his much smaller arms around his brother's shoulders to help him keep his head above the water. The trees and brush were blocking the current from them but the water was still rising. They shivered a little but kept a strong grip on each other as they reassured each other that their father and Hoss would soon find them. Each tightened their grip on the other as the water continued to rise.

That was how the searchers found them a short time later. Hoss climbed down and told Joe to climb up giving him a push up the slope where strong arms reached for him. Then Hoss lifted Adam until there was no pressure on his left ankle so that Ben could lift it from between the two saplings where it had been caught. Clem was there by then with the larger search party and two of the men had come in a buckboard. Men stepped down beside Hoss with ropes so that everyone could be pulled up the embankment safely. They put Adam in the back of that wagon, and because they were closer to town than to the Ponderosa, Ben went with him back to town while Hoss and Little Joe took the horses to the Ponderosa. The next morning as instructed, Hoss and Little Joe went to town with their buckboard to pick up their father and Adam.

By then, Roy had Arty and Chester in custody. They had admitted what they had done when Sheriff Coffee had shown up at their place. Now the big question was what to do with them. They had tried to kill someone but they were also still boys. In the morning before leaving town, Ben went to see Roy about the two, and Roy said he was going to talk to the judge and see what he thought ought to be done. He had tried to talk with Mac but had found him sleeping off a drunk so he had been nearly unintelligible in his remarks. Roy planned to go back and speak with him again later in the day and hopefully get him to understand what had happened.

"It's a big mess, Roy."

"It is, but you go take care of your boys. I'll get this worked out somehow. I don't rightly know how but I'll have to come up with something. I can't hardly let them two run around loose if they're gonna be trying to kill people. That's mighty young to be acting that way."

"Yes, but they lost their mother, and she was sick for years before that. I don't think she had the energy to keep up with two active boys. She had a difficult enough time taking care of herself. Mac was always away. He never had much time for those boys. All they got from him were those big stories he liked to tell. Once she died, he was overwhelmed with the responsibilities that he had to assume."

"I know you tried to help him out by hiring him, but he didn't take to working hard either. It's a sad case. Now how is Adam?"

"Banged up, but it's not too serious. He'll have to take it easy for a week, but the doctor thinks he'll be ready by the time our cattle drive starts."

"Is Little Joe gonna be staying with me again? I do enjoy the times he stays with me."

"No, Roy, I was going to get to that. With everything that has happened lately, he needs to be with his family so I'm taking him along with us. He'll ride in the chuckwagon and help Hop Sing. He won't like that because he'll think he should be working as a drover, but that's a year or two away yet."

"Oh, I bet he'll be happy to be along with all of you though."

"He is, but he won't be happy about all the work he'll have to do. We need this time as a family though."

Little Joe was happy to be going along, and he was disappointed that he was going to be riding in the wagon. He was especially happy though that he was going to be out of school for all of those weeks, and that he was going to be gone while the decision of what to do with Arty and Chester was determined. He had very mixed feelings about the two, but agreed that the best solution for him was to stay away from them. His father heartily concurred with that sentiment. Little Joe didn't see the two for another eight years.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Over the weeks of the drive though, Little Joe did open up to his father and Adam about the bad dreams and the nightmares. On the trail drive, he couldn't hide the fact that he was having the bad dreams. He slept beside his father and brothers and awoke every night at first with bad dreams. At first he tried to say it was because he was on the trail drive, but Hoss didn't let him get away with that saying in front of Adam and their father. He came right out in front of all of them and said that Little Joe needed to be honest. That was all it took for both Ben and Adam to begin questioning him about his dreams. The whole story came out then about how the dreams had started up soon after Adam's return from college and how Arty and Chester had convinced Little Joe that Adam had learned witchcraft when he was in Massachusetts and that he was visiting his dreams at night.

Ben was shocked. "Now where would they get fool notions like Adam visiting your dreams at night?"

"We studied about the witchcraft trials in school and the teacher told us about those girls and how they said that the witches came to them in dreams."

Adam interrupted then though because he was surprised at that. "Didn't the teacher tell you that those types of evidence had to be backed up by eyewitnesses and physical evidence and that's what ended the witchcraft trials? There were no eyewitnesses and no evidence."

"Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot about that part when they were telling me what they thought. They were really sure it was you. And then the Marlowe's baby died. And the Jenkins had their cattle come down with some kind of fever and lost most of their herd. Arty and Chester said that's the kind of thing that witches do."

Ben realized how impressionable his youngest son was and knew too that he should have been spending more time with him. "Little Joe, why didn't you come to me with these concerns?"

"You were always so busy, and you seemed so happy to have Adam back. I didn't think you would believe me."

"I wouldn't have believed you, but as you oldest brother can tell you, even when we disagree, it's good to talk about it. Sometimes even I can change my mind. I didn't want to bring you on this drive, but Adam convinced me it was the right thing to do."

"It was Adam's idea?" Little Joe had no idea at that point that it had been Adam who had been the reason he was on the drive. In fact, Hoss had not known that to be true either although he suspected it might be. That bit of information shook Little Joe's thoughts about his brother more than anything else he could have learned. He asked Adam why he wanted him along on the drive.

"Because it was a better idea than leaving you behind."

Little Joe looked to his father for more of an explanation but didn't get one. "It's how he thinks, Little Joe. You're going to have to get used to it. He weighs what is best and then does it."

Over the next couple of weeks, as Little Joe had more bad dreams, they weren't as often and they weren't as bad. He told his family the content of the dreams when they happened. It didn't take long for his father and Adam to understand and get a good idea of what had happened and why. Ben explained it all to Little Joe after he and Adam had a long talk about how they saw the dreams.

"When your mother died, you had terrible nightmares about it. You saw her body after you heard the horse scream. Adam did his best to shield you from the sight and pulled you back into the house. When you had the nightmares when your mother died, it was Adam who went to you and calmed you. I was too much of a wreck at that time to help anyone. I couldn't help myself. Over time, your nightmares ended or so we thought at the time. We thought you had come to terms with all of it, but now we know you probably forced yourself to forget. You still had bad nights sometimes but it was usually when there were thunderstorms, and you always wanted Adam to be the one to be by your side then. Of course Adam went away to school and then there was no one to comfort you. He was gone for five years, and you hid the fact that you had bad dreams if you had any. Then he came back and suddenly it seems to have triggered all those old bad dreams. It was like going back five years in time."

With a sly smile, Little Joe looked to his father. "So I was right. Adam did cause my bad dreams except it wasn't by being a witch. It was because he came back. So it's still his fault."

Adam rolled his eyes as Hoss laughed and Ben shook his head. Little Joe was irrepressible. Even when they got home and heard the news about the Davis family, it didn't make him sad for too long. He finally decided that perhaps it was the best thing for Arty and Chester to be with two good parents. Roy had gone to see Mac and had found him dead by his own hand. He had shot himself probably a short time after Roy had left him that morning. He had not been as drunk as Roy had thought. As a result, Arty and Chester were not only accused of a serious criminal offense, they were also orphans. There was a childless farm couple near Carson City who were willing to take them in and care for them. With the judge's approval because of the boys' ages, they were relocated there with the stipulation that they not get in trouble before they were sixteen or they would be back in court and facing prison time despite their young ages. That was the last the Cartwrights heard of them for eight years.

 **Eight Years Later**

Joe was trapped in the corral with no way out. Horses were milling around and all he could do was to run with them. If he tried to cross their path to the corral fence he would be trampled under their hooves. His only chance was to run with them and hope that they would run enough to burn off enough of their fear to calm down and slow down before he was exhausted or before he tripped and fell. If he did, he knew he would die. Then he heard the voice. He heard Adam's voice calling to him. He willed Adam not to do anything but the voice kept getting closer and closer. He knew it was going to be bad. Anything more and these horses were going to do something awful just when he was hoping that they were going to start calming down. And then it happened. They reared up and kicked their feet and screamed those horrible screams. The next vision was one that made him scream too. There was Adam with his head bent at a horrible angle with blood spurting from his mouth and blood seeming to be everywhere.

Suddenly Joe awakened and sat bolt upright in bed with sweat streaming down his body. His nightshirt was soaked with it. It was that dream again. He got up and peeled the damp garment from him draping it over a chair and shivering a bit before he pulled a dry one on. He slid back under the covers even though they were a bit damp and willed himself to close his eyes. He had been having that bad dream again night after night after so many years. He didn't know why. He didn't think that an eighteen-year-old ought to be having bad dreams like this. He hoped he had not called out like a small boy. At least no one had come to his room to see what was wrong. If he had made noise, it had not been enough for that. They had spent the week working on the roundup and branding of new calves. It was hard work, but Joe enjoyed the work because most of the time he was riding and roping. However even with that, it was tiring and with his interrupted sleep at night, he wasn't as sharp as he needed to be during the day. He and Adam had argued several times that day about the work going too slowly. Of course Joe didn't want to tell his oldest brother the reason why perhaps he wasn't able to get as many calves roped and brought in as he usually did so he threw it all back at his brother telling him he was too bossy and demanding. That kind of jab usually got Adam angry enough that he forgot all about being logical. It had worked and the two had nearly come to blows. As often happened in that kind of situation, Hoss had stepped between them and shoved them apart. It kept Joe from having to explain the real reason for his problems which was the dreams. Joe hadn't had dreams like these for many years and couldn't imagine why they had started again.

Some of those lessons from eight years earlier had not stayed with him. He didn't want to share this problem with his family and appear weak and young. He disliked being called Little Joe. Being so much smaller than his brothers as well as being so much younger gave him an attitude problem. No matter how much anyone talked to him logically about it, his emotional reaction is what drove him much of the time. He wanted them to be proud of him, and he wanted their respect. He didn't think that telling them that he was having problems with nightmares again was going to help him in that regard. How wrong he was of course in that they would have seen it as a sign of maturity that he could have admitted a problem and asked for their help. Instead he suffered alone and struck out at them when they criticized him in any way because of the mistakes he made because he was tired or because of the attitude he had because he was irritable. The next morning at the end of breakfast, as Adam and Hoss stood to leave, Ben asked Joe to stay. He didn't wait for Adam and Hoss to get their gunbelts and hats before he voiced his complaint to his father.

"I suppose Adam came running to you with his complaints about me again. Just like the other times, he's always finding fault with the way I do things."

"No, Adam did not bring any complaints about you to me, but from your response, it seems he certainly might have had cause." Ben's stare had the desired effect of quieting his youngest and getting him to adjust his attitude and tone.

"Sorry, Pa, I guess I overreacted again."

"Yes, I guess you did, and that has been happening quite a lot lately. Do you want to tell me why you think that has been the case?"

"No, I mean, there's been a lot of pressure and a lot of work. I'll try to do better."

"I certainly hope you will. What I wanted to talk to you about was that this is the first drive that Adam will boss alone. I know that Hoss will help him as much as he can, but this is the first drive that Hoss will ramrod alone. Now, you can be a big help to your brothers, and that was what I wanted to ask you to do. I want you to do what Adam did for me and Hoss did for Adam for the last few years. I want you to help them in any way you can because they're going to be carrying a lot of responsibility. Can you do that?"

"Sure, Pa, I can do that."

"This drive is very important to the future of this ranch. We need it to be successful, and you can help make sure that happens. With my three sons working together, I'm sure it will be successful."

"I will, Pa. I promise."

"Good, that's what I needed to hear. Then, first thing we need is for you to get the new men out to the branding corrals and get them to work. Hoss and Adam are organizing the drovers for the drive so they won't be there until later. You and I are in charge of the branding until then. You take charge of bringing in the calves, and I'll handle the crew doing the branding. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like a good plan, Pa."

It was a good plan, but as they worked that day, Joe had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right. He couldn't say what it was, and looking at the new hands with whom he was working, he couldn't say why they made him uneasy, but they did. Something wasn't right there, and yet they did their jobs, didn't complain, and everything seemed to be the way it should be. But that night, he had the nightmare again.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

At about the halfway point of the drive, Hoss moved next to Adam as he got a cup of coffee and a plate of food. Hoss had been having a bad feeling in his gut for a couple of weeks, and it was getting worse.

"Adam, you notice anything strange about any of the new men?"

"Strange in what way?"

"Oh, strange in that kinda creepy way that makes the skin on your neck stand up when they're around."

Chuckling a little as he sipped his coffee, Adam looked over the cup at Hoss. "You do take your duties as ramrod very seriously, don't you? No, none of the men make the hairs on my neck stand up. Which ones do that to you?"

"Those two with the beards. The more I watch them, the more I wonder if they're trying not to be recognized. I'm wondering if Roy might have a poster out on those boys."

"They seem kind of young to be wanted. Even with the beards, I can tell they're not much older than Joe. If you're that leery of them, then they won't be asked to come back with us at the end of the drive." Hoss still looked concerned. "Hoss, they haven't done anything that deserves getting fired, have they?"

"No, and that's just it. They act like they're in trouble all the time. They watch you especially like they think you're gonna come over and fire them at any minute, but as far as I know, they ain't done a single thing wrong."

"Maybe it's because they're young. It could be their first drive regardless of what they told you. They might have said it wasn't so they would get hired, and now they're worried we'll find out and fire them for lying."

"Maybe it's that, but somehow, I think it's more than that."

"Well, ramrod, they're your responsibility. Keep an eye on them then. This drive is halfway over, and it's going well. We're on the easy half now so Pa should be very pleased by how it turns out."

"I think he's gonna be just as pleased to find out how well Joe's been doing on this drive. He's busted his butt to do everything we've asked him to do."

"I know. It's been impressive."

"Have you told him that?"

Chagrined, Adam had to admit he had not. "I'll talk to him tonight. I would have, but he seems to avoid me as much as he can especially at night."

"You know, he does that to me too. I wondered about that. Maybe he's trying to show that he's just one of the men."

Frowning a bit, Adam thought about that more than he had previously. "Maybe, or maybe it's something more. Let's track him down tonight and find out. You know how he tries to hide things from us. We'll ambush him and make sure he's not sick or something."

"Now there's my older brother sounding like our Pa again. Yeah, when it's time to bed down, we'll find him. He can't hardly grab his bedroll and stalk off, now can he without looking like a kid, and we know he don't want to do that." Hoss was grinning then.

That evening a short time after dinner, Hoss grabbed his bed roll and headed around the chuck wagon as Adam grabbed his and headed the opposite way around to where Joe had laid out his bedroll and lay back on his saddle. Hoss dropped his bedroll and saddle next to Joe getting a smile from his younger brother that quickly vanished and then was replaced with a scowl when Adam arrived and dropped his gear on the other side of his little brother.

"Hey, can't a man get any peace and quiet and a little privacy around here?"

"Now why would our little brother need privacy from his two brothers, Adam. You got any idea why he would want that?"

"No idea at all, big brother. I only came over here because I have been remiss in telling my brother what a fine job he has been doing, and I came to correct that failure on my part. Joe, you have been doing a fine job on this cattle drive. I should have told you sooner, but I got busy, although that is not a good excuse, and I did not tell you earlier as I should have. Please forgive me."

Taken aback by the unexpected praise but still suspicious of the maneuver, Joe didn't quite know how to react. Then Hoss confused him further.

"Now, we got a couple of things we want to talk over with ya. It's the kinda thing we need to talk over as family. You been avoiding us it seems, so we had to come to you. I been getting a bad feeling about them two new hands with the beards. That Amos and Carl don't seem quite right. I get a funny feeling whenever I'm around them like something ain't right. Now they do their work and all, but I was wondering if you seen anything strange with them two."

Looking to Adam, Joe asked first if he had seen anything, and Adam gave the same answer that he had given to Hoss. Joe sat quietly for a moment before he gave his answer.

"I've had a funny feeling about those two ever since you hired them, but I don't know why. They never look me in the eye. Whenever we talk, they look in another direction. It's not something that you can fire a man for, but it is odd. And then there's, well, I guess, that's it."

"What else, Joe? You looked like you got something else to say." Hoss wanted the rest of the story.

"Well, sometimes they look at Adam like they're really mad at him, but I don't know what he could have done to make them mad."

"I don't think I've even met them." Adam was confused.

"There's something strange about them, Adam. That's what I been telling ya. What Joe said only adds more to what I was saying."

"All right. We'll keep an eye on them. Hoss, when you set up the work schedules, make sure that one of us is always with them. We'll pay attention and we'll talk over anything that we see. Maybe we can figure this out."

"So anything else you two big galoots want, or can a man get some sleep around here?"

"Nope, that's all we had. You got anything to tell us?"

"No, everything's been going fine."

Joe lay down and pulled his blanket up to his chin as he closed his eyes. Hoss looked over at Adam with that look that said 'I told you so' because fairly often he had heard Adam used that word 'fine' when things weren't at all fine but he thought he could handle them on his own. Adam shrugged and lay back closing his eyes too. He knew that Joe would tell them when he was ready. That night, Joe didn't have a nightmare. He guessed it was probably because he had an older brother on each side of him giving him some comfort even as he slept.

Each night for six days, the nightly routine was similar to that night. Each night for six nights, there was nothing new to report except that Hoss had noticed too that the two men seemed to give Adam looks that indicated animosity, but there was nothing more than looks. They never said anything that could be challenged and one could hardly question how a man looked across a camp. It was curious but not threatening or so they thought. It was seven days later that they found out the extent of that animosity but were left with as many questions as answers. Adam was due to take his turn at riding lead, and Amos and Carl drew their turns to ride flank right behind him. Hoss told them to ride out early with Adam to be ready to move the front of the herd at Adam's signal. As he and Joe finished their breakfast, Joe told Hoss he thought the two of them ought to ride out to check on Adam because he was a bit nervous having Amos and Carl being the two backing Adam up with the task of getting the herd started that morning. With their unease at the two men who were working with Adam, Hoss had only a momentary thought to question that idea before he agreed and dropped his breakfast plate surprising Hop Sing for only a moment.

"You go check on Mister Adam?"

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

"Those two men he with very bad men. I feel it when they by me. Something bad inside them. They no like Mister Adam. They angry at him."

Hoss and Joe rushed then worried about what might be happening. They told the men to hurry as well because there might be trouble. The men heard the urgency in Hoss' voice and abandoned their breakfasts and rushed to saddle their horses. Within a few minutes, Hoss and Joe were riding toward the head of the herd. Ominously, Amos and Carl were not in position, and then they saw them up ahead where Adam should have been. Joe and Hoss kicked their horses into a gallop drawing the attention of the two men up ahead. They panicked and rode into the herd that they had started to move forward and pushed them back in on themselves stopping their forward momentum. Hoss saw Adam first lying unmoving ahead of the herd. He yelled and Joe saw him too. Both rode hard in that direction but Amos and Carl grew even more worried and drew their pistols to shoot at Hoss and Joe. When they did the cattle began to mill about and then began to run. It was a race then for Hoss and Joe to get to Adam first. They did with Joe swinging down and pulling Adam up roughly enough so that Hoss could grab his arm and drag him over his saddle. Joe swing mounted back up on Cochise in time for the two of them to ride their way out of the herd and up the slope to safety. Amos and Carl were not so lucky as their horses were hit broad side by the cattle and fell taking their riders down under the hooves of hundreds of cattle before the drovers could swing around and stop the stampede before it went very far.

With Joe's help, Hoss got Adam down on the ground so he could assess his injuries. Adam had a bad bump on the back of his head, numerous bruises from being hit, and probably some cracked ribs. Luckily, none of the ribs seemed to be broken. He was groggy and not fully conscious. As he became more aware, he complained about his left arm.

"Sorry about that, brother, but we had to get you out of there in a hurry. Them cows wanted to make jelly out of you. We decided to keep you around a bit longer instead. I know I musta wrenched it some pulling you up."

Moving to shake his head to acknowledge that doing that was all right, Adam grimaced instead.

"Now let that be a lesson to ya. You got a big ole lump on the back of your head. I'm guessing that's how they got the drop on ya. You ain't gonna want to be moving your head any more than necessary now. Do you think you can ride ifn we go real slow? Don't shake your head. Just put your thumb up if ya think ya can."

A slow right thumb up signaled not only that he could ride but that he was understanding them. It was a very good sign. Hoss smiled at Joe and asked him to go get Sport. They had seen him a short distance away. The drive didn't go anywhere that day. It took quite a bit of time to get Adam back to the camp, and for the drovers to round up all the cattle and settle them down. Amos and Carl were buried, their horses had to be shot, and their gear was stored in the wagon. Once Hop Sing and Hoss tended to Adam, he also got a resting spot in the wagon. Hoss and Joe finally had a chance to ask him some questions that night when he awoke from a long nap. They wanted to know what Amos and Carl had said to him if anything.

"It was strange. They said I killed their pa and ruined their lives. They said I should have died the first time, but they were making sure this time. They said it would look like an accident. I didn't even know who they were. How could any of that be true? Did they mix me up with someone else?"

Hoss and Joe had no answers. The rest of the drive went smoothly. It was only another two weeks. Adam spent it riding in the wagon because he was too dizzy to ride a horse. He took the trip home by stage for the same reason arriving well ahead of his brothers and depositing a nice big bank draft for the Ponderosa. He rented a horse for the short ride home and was very glad the ride wasn't any longer. His father said he should have seen Doctor Martin when he was in town.

"Why? So he could tell me that riding would make me dizzy, and I should take it easy for another week?"

Curious about the drive in every regard, Ben had a lot of questions and was pleased to find that the three brothers had worked so well together. He was as mystified as any of them though as to whom Amos and Carl actually were. It might have remained a mystery forever except for Joe offhandedly mentioning to his father a few months later that he had had those bad dreams of eight years earlier, but that they had ended on the drive.

"When did they end?"

"When Adam got hurt."

Thoughtful for a moment, Ben started to get a theory. "Or about the time Amos and Carl were killed."

"Sure, that happened at the same time."

"Joe, when did you start having those dreams again? Do you remember?"

"I started having them when we were doing the roundup. It was . . . " Joe stopped talking because he suddenly had a suspicion too. "I knew them. I knew there was something about Carl and Amos that was familiar but I didn't know what it was. They would never look me in the eye. I thought it was because they were guilty of something, on the run, but it was because I knew them and they were afraid I would remember."

"Yes, and they said Adam killed their father and ruined their lives. Think about it, Joe. Something tied those two times together. Now what happened eight years ago when you were having those bad dreams?"

Staring down at the floor for a time, Joe thought furiously about that time and a thought came to him that he knew immediately and with clarity was the truth. "Arty and Chester. It was Arty and Chester. They came back to get revenge on Adam, and now they're dead."

"Yes, that seems to be the case to me too. We can never be sure, but it fits what we do know. It's over now. Those were two very disturbed boys. All those years ago, Adam was right when he said we should take you on that cattle drive to get you away from them. He said you needed to spend more time with me. Sometimes I forgot how he helped me be a better father to you."

"Those were Adam's ideas?"

"Yes, someday, you may get to know all the things that Adam has done for you. He really does care for you a great deal."

"I care for him a great deal too, Pa."

"Are you ever going to tell him that?"

"When he tells me the same. We probably won't, but we know. We're too much alike not to know, even if we're never going to admit that to anyone but you."

Ben shook his head and smiled. That was about how he saw it too. "C'mon. Your brothers are outside. Let's go tell them what we figured out."

"Ah, Pa, let's not tell them the part about the bad dreams, all right?"

"Adam will guess."

"Probably, but he can never be sure."

Ben smiled at his youngest son and his confidence in that statement, but he knew that Adam would be sure because Ben had confidence in Adam's ability to draw a logical conclusion, and Adam would tell Hoss so they would all know. But the most important thing was that Joe's dark dreams were over.

5


End file.
